Chapter 36: Luck

The mercs carried Riddick's heavy, limp form to their ship, bound in titanium restraints. He was near death from the loss of blood and the injuries they had inflicted on him in order to subdue him, but they thought themselves lucky that he was still alive. Their original plan had been to deliver his corpse to any one of the planets he was wanted on, but he was tougher than they anticipated and now they had him, alive, to deliver for the higher bounty.

They worked quickly to latch him into the high security Cryo chamber, laughing that he must have spent more of his life in one of these chambers than out. After he was secure they brought a small, mobile NanoMed in, positioned it, and watched as it impaled his neck sending its healing agents throughout his body. Within seconds his wounds disappeared. Quickly, not giving him a chance to wake up, they stored the NanoMed machine and closed the chamber door, flipping the switch and sending Riddick into stasis.

After a fitful night's sleep Kyra awoke and stared around her. In the bright sunlight that was now filtering down at her, the canyon exploded in color. The walls were the same bright orange-red as the surface and they struck a sharp contrast with the nearly neon green of the spongy plant life that covered the canyon floor. The tree-like plants were a deep purple-blue with dark green, almost black leaves. They seemed to grow everywhere from the ground to the cliff walls, creating small patches of shade.

It was beautiful in its own way, but Kyra had no eye for its beauty; she ignored it completely as she made her way to the spring to drink, and only took note of the warmth of the sun beating on her back because it meant that, finally, the dust storm was over.

She drank long and deep from the spring, but jumped suddenly when she heard a flapping sound overhead. She looked quickly up, shielding her eyes from the sun, and spotted a rather large bird-like animal flying from tree to tree. It had a large round body, and a long, skinny neck with an almost perfectly round head perched on top. Its narrow, straight beak sat oddly on its face below its beady black eyes. Its texture was the most peculiar thing about it; it was covered in bright orange feathers along its back, wings, neck and head but its underside was completely naked and appeared to be scaled. The scales were the same green color as the sky, creating an excellent camouflage. Kyra smiled inwardly to herself; "food."

The rest of the morning Kyra spent exploring the little canyon valley, and found a small, rounded cave situated almost directly across the valley from the canyon opening where she had come in the night before. It would be perfect, she decided. She would use this canyon as a kind of home base until she found a way off this planet.

After her discovery of the cave, she spent the rest of the day gathering the spongy plant for a makeshift bed, wood from the trees for a fire, and then she sat carving a spear using a sharp piece of stone that had fallen from the cliff. Tomorrow she would use it to hunt the strange birds when they came in the morning to drink from the spring.

Hunger burned at her stomach as she worked, pushing her deeper and deeper into herself. The barrier that she had built around herself in Crematoria was firmly back in place. She worked on like a machine, letting the mindless activity numb her even further.

The sun was beginning to set so she built a fire in a bare patch she had scratched out on the ground in front of the cave. Soon it was burning merrily, sending its light across the valley and making shadows dance on the walls. She sat beside it using its light and continued her work on the spear.

It was nearly finished when she suddenly felt a fluttering feeling in her abdomen, making her gasp. She dropped her rock and the nearly finished spear and rested both her hands on her stomach, hardly daring to breathe. There! There it was again.

Unable to contain her amazement, she laughed. The sound bounced around and around the valley, filling it with happiness before it reached her ears again. Instantly her laughter died down, and tears began to take its place.

"What have I been doing?" Kyra said, gently cradling her stomach. "I'm not alone…I have you, and since I have you, I have your daddy too. I have no reason to let myself feel this way…Not with you. You deserve better, and I promise…I promise, that I will give you what you deserve." With that, Kyra took a deep breath. She had decided - no more protecting herself by cutting off all emotion. No. She had someone else to protect, to care for, to live for now, and she was going to no matter what it cost her.

Away on the surface lay the wreck of what was once a small under-cutter. It appeared to have been rolled multiple times before it finally came to rest and was then covered in a thick layer of orange-red dust. Now it was nothing more than a twisted pile of alloy and hardware. Occasionally sparks would fly out from it as the electrical system shorted, but that wouldn't last too much longer now that the batteries were running dry. The sun and wind beat on it, and soon it would be nothing more than an oddly shaped hill, then…nothing.

A loud clanging sound suddenly issued from the wreck, and what was once a service hatch blew open. Three men dragged themselves out and fell the short distance to the ground where they lay still in the beating sunlight.

Jefferies looked over at the other two, "You alive?" he asked after awhile.

J looked back sardonically, "Fuck no." he said.

Rat just nodded.

They all knew Hand wasn't, they had to pass by his mangled corpse on their way out. It looked like he had been caught halfway through the hatch into the ship when it rolled and they figured his other half must have been left outside.

They all lay still for another several minutes before Jefferies broke the silence, "Lets go, I'm just about fuckin' fried."

They stood and, nursing their many injuries, went about their work on the ship. Jefferies drained all remaining water out of the hold into the emergency canteens, while J and Rat worked together to send out a mayday message to the nearest mercenary guild, giving their location and the approximate date. They looped it so that it would play over and over on the emergency power supply. Those tasks done they turned and began walking across the hot, scorched surface of Planet Sahade, hoping to find shelter before the next storm hit.